Tag: NMR
Publication: NMR of 13C-labeled hyaluronic acid hydrogels (in context of ECM)
Congratulations to PhD student Pushpa Rampratap (and her co-authors!) on the publication of a new paper on the use of solid-state NMR spectroscopy to study hydrogels that mimic aspects of the extracellular matrix (ECM). Building on her previously published approach to produce 13C labeled hyaluronic acid (HA; with very high molecular weights), she performed extensive series of magic-angle-spinning NMR analyses of HA hydrogels under various conditions. Notably, this included ECM-mimicking conditions that are commonly used in cell culture and biomedical engineering studies (using the Geltrex ECM extract).
The resulting (very nice) paper shows the power of combining 13C enrichment with modern MAS NMR to gain truly atomic-level insights into the behavior of complex hydrogels (or ECMs). Surprisingly (to us), we observed highly localized changes affecting specific atoms in the HA, with the affected atoms being different from what we had expected. We briefly discuss the implications of this finding for e.g. HA-interacting proteins in a biological context. That said, these methods should be particularly powerful also for studying engeneering HA-based hydrogels and nanoparticles, which are finding widespread uses in different types of industries.
Citation:
Rampratap et al. (2024) Resolving Atomic-Level Dynamics and Interactions of High-Molecular-Weight Hyaluronic Acid by Multidimensional Solid-State NMR ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2024, 16, 33, 43317–43328
Educational webinar on the use of ssNMR to measure dihedral angles.
Recently, Patrick gave an online lecture in the online webinar tutorial series of the Global NMR Discussion Meetings series (episode 70!). In this online lecture he introduced and discussed approaches to measure torsion angles (or dihedral angles) using advanced solid-state NMR spectroscopy. He discussed the basic idea of how these are implemented in ssNMR, but also how such structural data can be a useful complement to more traditional inter-atomic distance information obtained by ssNMR. You can now watch the recording of this lecture on Youtube, via this link.
Want to learn even more?
This lecture is connected to our recent review article on the same topic, which can be found online at: Frontiers | Dihedral Angle Measurements for Structure Determination by Biomolecular Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy (frontiersin.org)
Job search: NMR spectroscopist being recruited at the RuG
The University of Groningen is looking to hire a NMR spectroscopist for the solution NMR facility associated with the chemistry-focused Stratingh Institute. Ad is here: https://www.rug.nl/about-ug/work-with-us/job-opportunities/?details=00347-02S0009SXP&cat=obp
Note that this position is not associated with our research group. The mentioned NMR facility is part of the Stratingh Institute and focuses on solution NMR studies.
Competitive PhD Scholarships call open (deadline April 1st)
Our Institute and Faculty have opened up a competitive call for PhD scholarship applications. Our solid-state NMR group participates in one of the research theme areas, designated as “Advanced Materials”, which spans topics from physics of life, via bio-inspired materials, to materials and much more. The process is described in some detail on the RuG website. Briefly, applicants (with a MSc degree) are expected to contact a PI/supervisor (immediately!) and develop a fitting project to submit. The submission deadline of an initial idea (few hundred words) is due by April 1st 2020!
Suitable ideas are expected to fit within designated topics areas, described on the website here and here. Note especially also the 2nd link, as it contains important detailed information.T
Interested in this? Please contact us as soon as possible, to meet the tight deadlines. Together we can consider topics that range from self-assembling bio-inspired materials, Physics of Cancer, non-biological materials and other topics. Projects will be highly interdisciplinary as the involvement of a second supervisor is also required, with a distinct and complementary expertise.